So I don’t really know what to do here or if I even need to do something. Basically the warlock in our party is a min maxer (which I don’t really have a problem with) and secretly evil. He’s not really that much of a power gamer but there have been several instances where he acts like one. So there’s a couple problems I have here.
1. I don’t mind that he’s secretly evil. We have a party of chaotic evil, chaotic neutral, and lawful good and then the warlock so it’s not a major problem. The main thing is that he says he plans on betraying the party. At first, I thought that was kind of cool, but also thought it wouldn’t make too much sense because of the alignments and stuff but it could work. The problem with this is he did some subtle homebrew thing or is doing it to mind control the Lawful Good player to betray the party later in the campaign. So by now I’m thinking that this is kind of cool, also wondering why there’s a homebrew thing. So I asked if he’s going to just leave and set them against the party, which would be kind of cool because then they have to stop the mind controlled player without killing them, and if they do end up killing them it could be a good narrative. Then he says that he’s going to help. So it’s a 2v2. And that’s not great. 2. He has this insanely complicated backstory where he’s a Dragonborn trapped in the Shadowfell who made a pact with a Shadowfell being (he’s a hex blade warlock) and became a demigod/celestial but then lost all of his power. He ends up following this secretly evil God for more power, oh yeah and for some reason he’s married to Morgana Le Fay, who exists in my campaign world now I guess. It doesn’t seem like too much of a big deal but also it’s kinda like...... the dude was a demigod but now he’s mugging some kobolds?
3. Oh yes and even more. He said that he was going to try to find the sword of kas and use a wish spell to modify it to lead him to the hand of vecna. I wouldn’t mind throwing in the hand of vecna as an adventure but he’s secretly evil and would not tell the party about it so it’s just him getting two extremely powerful artifacts. I ended up ruling that even if he found the sword of kas it would be impossible to modify it with a wish spell because the artifacts magic and stuff and I’m the dungeon master. Then three days later he texts me with the wording of the wish spell saying that I would technically HAVE TO let him use it to modify the sword because I could only mess with the way he words things (does this make him a power gamer? I don’t think so but like...). I probably won’t throw in the sword of kas anyway, but this guy is persistent so you never know. The main thing is that this is just one example of him trying to get as much power as possible, and yeah.
So I’m not fully sure he’s still planning to betray the party, but if he does he’s going to end up killing them and the campaign. He had this extremely complicated backstory and is married to morgana le fay (who I’m killing off). And then his focus is getting as much power as possible....... so along with his murderous tendencies towards the party...... that could derail stuff. Oh and he’s a minor vampire too. I’m still friends with this guy though and he’s a decent player, except for everything I kinda just mentioned.
So I don’t know what to do here. Also should I even do something here....?
1) Allowing a player to plot with you to attack/kill the rest of the party is inherently unfair to the other players at the table. Its one thing if he surprised you and the players with it (I'm not saying that would be preferable or ideal, but it at least wouldn't look like you conspiring in an unfair manner with this player). I also would be really hesitant on any homebrew "thing" that allows him to influence other players without their consent...if the players are just going along with it, that is one thing, but if he is trying to forcibly remove player agency on a regular basis outside the normal rules for such, that is a problem.
2) a complicated backstory is not an issue unless he is trying to get an unfair mechanical benefit from it. If All of that stuff is meaningless fluff that only affects role-play, then it only matters when you say it does as DM, and is not unfair to the other players.
3) the DM sets the content of the game...if you don't want to add those artifacts to the game you don't have to. You also don't have to be forced to do anything with wish that you don't want in the context of the game. see the following text of the spell..."The GM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance; the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong. This spell might simply fail, the effect you desire might only be partly achieved, or you might suffer some unforeseen consequence as a result of how you worded the wish." Don't be cowed into doing something you don't want to do because the player wants it.
Overall, a player like this would probably be booted from one of my games. Even if he was a friend; this sort of behavior (the first and third points, less so the second) is not conducive to a good gaming environment, which should be enjoyable to all players and the DM.
Icon already covered the main stuff, but you're king at the table. What the DM says goes, and if the players don't like it they can walk.
The backstory stuff would bother me as well, but you should've ironed that out during character creation, it's not really fair for you to question your player's backstory if you already okayed it earlier. Kind of a bait and switch. So you're kinda stuck there.
Lastly, killing this character sounds like it would solve all your issues. Let the players get clues that he's evil and allow them to turn on him on their own and give them the chance to slay him before the evil deed is done. Have an NPC be tracking him. There's lots of ways to approach this.
Bottom line: if the player is being disruptive then you need to deal with it outside of the game. If the character is is problem, then you can deal with it in-game.
Just quote the relevant part of the Wish spell back at him:
"You might be able to achieve something beyond the scope of the above examples. State your wish to the GM as precisely as possible. The GM has great latitude in ruling what occursin such an instance; the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong. This spell might simply fail, the effect you desire might only be partly achieved, or you might suffer some unforeseen consequence as a result of how you worded the wish. For example, wishing that a villain were dead might propel you forward in time to a period when that villain is no longer alive, effectively removing you from the game. Similarly, wishing for a legendary magic item or artifact might instantly transport you to the presence of the item's current owner."
Umm, you're the DM right? Why would you allow such an OP backstory? Why would you allow "some homebrew" that lets him control another PC? And even more importantly; why would you allow one player to take away from the enjoyment of other players?
Pull the player aside out of game, tell them that this is not the type of game you run. If they don't like it, you move on. Indulging a player telling you how things work is a recipe for disaster.
So I don’t really know what to do here or if I even need to do something. Basically the warlock in our party is a min maxer (which I don’t really have a problem with) and secretly evil. He’s not really that much of a power gamer but there have been several instances where he acts like one. So there’s a couple problems I have here.
1. I don’t mind that he’s secretly evil. We have a party of chaotic evil, chaotic neutral, and lawful good and then the warlock so it’s not a major problem. The main thing is that he says he plans on betraying the party. At first, I thought that was kind of cool, but also thought it wouldn’t make too much sense because of the alignments and stuff but it could work. The problem with this is he did some subtle homebrew thing or is doing it to mind control the Lawful Good player to betray the party later in the campaign. So by now I’m thinking that this is kind of cool, also wondering why there’s a homebrew thing. So I asked if he’s going to just leave and set them against the party, which would be kind of cool because then they have to stop the mind controlled player without killing them, and if they do end up killing them it could be a good narrative. Then he says that he’s going to help. So it’s a 2v2. And that’s not great.
2. He has this insanely complicated backstory where he’s a Dragonborn trapped in the Shadowfell who made a pact with a Shadowfell being (he’s a hex blade warlock) and became a demigod/celestial but then lost all of his power. He ends up following this secretly evil God for more power, oh yeah and for some reason he’s married to Morgana Le Fay, who exists in my campaign world now I guess. It doesn’t seem like too much of a big deal but also it’s kinda like...... the dude was a demigod but now he’s mugging some kobolds?
3. Oh yes and even more. He said that he was going to try to find the sword of kas and use a wish spell to modify it to lead him to the hand of vecna. I wouldn’t mind throwing in the hand of vecna as an adventure but he’s secretly evil and would not tell the party about it so it’s just him getting two extremely powerful artifacts. I ended up ruling that even if he found the sword of kas it would be impossible to modify it with a wish spell because the artifacts magic and stuff and I’m the dungeon master. Then three days later he texts me with the wording of the wish spell saying that I would technically HAVE TO let him use it to modify the sword because I could only mess with the way he words things (does this make him a power gamer? I don’t think so but like...). I probably won’t throw in the sword of kas anyway, but this guy is persistent so you never know. The main thing is that this is just one example of him trying to get as much power as possible, and yeah.
So I’m not fully sure he’s still planning to betray the party, but if he does he’s going to end up killing them and the campaign. He had this extremely complicated backstory and is married to morgana le fay (who I’m killing off). And then his focus is getting as much power as possible....... so along with his murderous tendencies towards the party...... that could derail stuff. Oh and he’s a minor vampire too. I’m still friends with this guy though and he’s a decent player, except for everything I kinda just mentioned.
So I don’t know what to do here. Also should I even do something here....?
Nvm
I know you said nevermind, but my two cents
1) Allowing a player to plot with you to attack/kill the rest of the party is inherently unfair to the other players at the table. Its one thing if he surprised you and the players with it (I'm not saying that would be preferable or ideal, but it at least wouldn't look like you conspiring in an unfair manner with this player). I also would be really hesitant on any homebrew "thing" that allows him to influence other players without their consent...if the players are just going along with it, that is one thing, but if he is trying to forcibly remove player agency on a regular basis outside the normal rules for such, that is a problem.
2) a complicated backstory is not an issue unless he is trying to get an unfair mechanical benefit from it. If All of that stuff is meaningless fluff that only affects role-play, then it only matters when you say it does as DM, and is not unfair to the other players.
3) the DM sets the content of the game...if you don't want to add those artifacts to the game you don't have to. You also don't have to be forced to do anything with wish that you don't want in the context of the game. see the following text of the spell..."The GM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance; the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong. This spell might simply fail, the effect you desire might only be partly achieved, or you might suffer some unforeseen consequence as a result of how you worded the wish." Don't be cowed into doing something you don't want to do because the player wants it.
Overall, a player like this would probably be booted from one of my games. Even if he was a friend; this sort of behavior (the first and third points, less so the second) is not conducive to a good gaming environment, which should be enjoyable to all players and the DM.
Icon already covered the main stuff, but you're king at the table. What the DM says goes, and if the players don't like it they can walk.
The backstory stuff would bother me as well, but you should've ironed that out during character creation, it's not really fair for you to question your player's backstory if you already okayed it earlier. Kind of a bait and switch. So you're kinda stuck there.
Lastly, killing this character sounds like it would solve all your issues. Let the players get clues that he's evil and allow them to turn on him on their own and give them the chance to slay him before the evil deed is done. Have an NPC be tracking him. There's lots of ways to approach this.
Bottom line: if the player is being disruptive then you need to deal with it outside of the game. If the character is is problem, then you can deal with it in-game.
Just quote the relevant part of the Wish spell back at him:
"You might be able to achieve something beyond the scope of the above examples. State your wish to the GM as precisely as possible. The GM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance; the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong. This spell might simply fail, the effect you desire might only be partly achieved, or you might suffer some unforeseen consequence as a result of how you worded the wish. For example, wishing that a villain were dead might propel you forward in time to a period when that villain is no longer alive, effectively removing you from the game. Similarly, wishing for a legendary magic item or artifact might instantly transport you to the presence of the item's current owner."
Umm, you're the DM right? Why would you allow such an OP backstory? Why would you allow "some homebrew" that lets him control another PC? And even more importantly; why would you allow one player to take away from the enjoyment of other players?
Pull the player aside out of game, tell them that this is not the type of game you run. If they don't like it, you move on. Indulging a player telling you how things work is a recipe for disaster.
Do not sanction a player mind-controlling another player. That is how games go boom.